The yearly Kevin Smith panel took place Friday night right after the Star Wars Panel, and though it started off as one of Smith’s biggest fears, it still went off without a hitch and with plenty of fan fare and fun stories. At first, Smith was excited that he was place right after Star Wars, until JJ Abrams revealed that he would be taking the entire Hall to a secret Star Wars concert.

“My biggest fear in life is that I would walk out to this panel and there would be three people here. When I heard JJ invite everyone to the concert, I was like well here we go,” Smith said. “But as I look out at all of you guys now, I realize it’s not that bad, so thank you all for coming out.”

A half packed Hall H crowd, which is still about 3,000 people, was treated to several anecdotes about some of his past works, but the primary discussion point was his new movie, Yoga Hosers. The inspiration for this film actually came from his last film, Tusk, where his daughter and Johnny Depp’s daughter Lily Rose, played characters who worked at a convenience store. Smith was so enamored by the connection that these two had that he wrote a movie with them as the leads.

“I saw these two girls, who are best friends in real life, in this film, and I immediately thought, I have to write more with these two. And I told my wife about this, saying I don’t know why but I just need to, and she said that it’s because it’s just like Clerks but with two of your favorite people. And of course she was right,” Smith told the crowd.

He then introduced his daughter, who was nervous at first before settling in and chatting casually with her father. Smith then shared a great story about working with Johnny Depp on the set of Tusk. The opening of the movie is a monologue from Depp, but there was a bit of a mixup before shooting.

“Originally Johnny thought that the monologue would be off camera based on what he read in the script. But then we told him it would be on and asked him if we wanted to push it off for another day. He said “no give me a minute”. He took 25 seconds, said he was ready to go, did it, and that’s the take that’s in the film. Just unbelievable.”

Yoga Hosers, the next film in Smith’s directorial resume, revolves around his daughter and Depp’s as mentioned, as well as Johnny Depp himself, who was chomping at the bit to reprise his roll as Guy Lapointe. According to Smith, Depp would call him at all hours of the night begging him to bring the character back.

“I would get calls from Johnny in the middle of the night and he would say that he spent the whole day talking in Lapointe’s voice and it was driving his friends and family crazy. So when I came up with this idea, I knew he would be a big part of the film.”

Speaking of big parts in the film, the chief villain in the film, or should we say villains, are in fact microsize sausage men. Yes, it’s just as crazy as it sounds. When a few actors tried out for the role, but couldn’t handle the sausage suit it took, Smith knew there was only one person who could play it.

“I just told myself that it was time to get back on screen, and what better role than a tiny sausage villain am I right? I had an absolute blast doing it and it was great to get back on the screen.”

Smith’s latest film project will be out in theaters later this year. It was another fantastic Kevin Smith panel, and we look forward to going again next year!

Are you excited for Yoga Hosers? What is your favorite Kevin Smith story? Let us know in the comments!